“Your boyfriend has made my life very difficult.” Oliver moved closer, each step deliberate on the rocky ground. “The warehouse was supposed to be his recapture. I’d planned the entire buy around it—dangled the kind of deal he couldn’t resist, knowing he’d have to show. I was going to take my time with him first and then bring you in so he could watch what came next.”
He stopped a few feet away. Close enough that I could see the broken blood vessels in his eyes. The exhaustion beneath the fury.
“Instead, everything went sideways. Half my men in custody. My buyers scattered.” His jaw tightened. “I don’t usually monologue. I find it tedious when villains explain their plans—so clichéd. But I must admit, I can’t resist a few observations.”
“How’d you find me?” My mind flashed to Lark, Pawsitive, and the others, wondering if they’d be in danger now too.
“I had Bishop do a little digging after you ran away. I was hopeful he’d be able to retrieve you, but he brought me something else that helped set my plan in motion instead.”
He reached into his jacket. I tensed, but he only pulled out a photograph. Edges worn soft from handling.
My breath caught.
It was Coop and me. Years ago, before everything fell apart. I was wrapped around him from behind, my chin on his shoulder, both of us laughing. I remembered that day—a picnic in the park near his apartment, autumn leaves everywhere, someone’s dog photobombing our attempt at a serious couple’s shot. We’d been so happy. So certain of our future.
A lifetime ago.
“Your little memory box was very illuminating,” Oliver said, turning the photo so I could see it fully. “All those love letters. All those photographs. Two years of a relationship, carefully preserved.”
Seeing the photo in his hands—proof of how thoroughly he’d invaded my life—made my stomach turn.
“Once I saw this, I knew I had been played.” Oliver tucked the photo back into his jacket like it belonged to him now. “Ryan Cooper was never Coop the arms dealer. He wasn’t a disgraced veteran looking to profit from his skills. He was a hero playing villain.” His lips curved, but there was nothing pleasant in it.
“I must admit, he fooled me completely. That’s rare.” He leaned closer. “I don’t like being fooled.”
“Is Coop dead?”
The words scraped out before I could stop them. I needed to know. Even if the answer shattered me, I needed to know.
Coop not being here either meant he was dead or Travis had somehow gotten him out in time. I had no idea which.
Oliver’s expression shifted—something dark and satisfied moving behind those empty eyes. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. There was quite a lot of shooting at the warehouse. My men engaged him directly.” He shrugged, the gesture almost elegant. “Either way, he’s not coming to help you. No one is.”
The words hung in the cold air.No one is coming.
I should have spiraled. Should have let the fear drag me under, imagining Coop bleeding out on a warehouse floor, imagining myself alone with this monster forever.
But something else rose up instead. Something I’d learned in four hours trapped in crushed metal, in a hunt through dark woods, in every moment since this nightmare began.
Survive first. Grief later.
If Coop was alive, he’d want me focused on getting out of this. And if he wasn’t?—
If he wasn’t, I’d make damn sure his sacrifice meant something.
I shoved everything else down. Locked it away in the same place I’d put the panic, the despair, the screaming terror that wanted to consume me.
“So, what now?” My voice came out flat. Steady.
“Now we have another hunt.” Oliver’s pale eyes brightened. “One where you don’t cheat this time. No one coming to pick you up in their car. No undercover operative waiting in the wings. Just you and me, the way it should be.”
Another hunt.
The words hit me like a physical blow. My vision tunneled, the edges going gray. I could feel it starting again—the dress, the countdown, running. The absolute certainty that I was going to die alone in the dark or that, worse, I wouldn’t die alone in the dark and that Oliver would catch me and do things to me that?—
No.
No, no, no, no?—
